The present invention relates to coin display holders and, in particular, to a locking support tray wherein individual coin containing holders or so called slabs (i.e. sealed transparent plastic holders) are pivotally secured.
Numistists, including collectors and dealers, commonly attend shows whereat coins of various grades are bought and sold. Depending upon the value of the coins, the coins may be supported in a variety of fashions, from lying loose and being strewn about a display table for inspection by purchasers to being organized by grade, cost, or other criteria on cloth-lined trays to being secured within glass front cases which may or may not be locked. Most typically, however, the slabs regardless of value are strewn about the display table. Although such an offering may facilitate handling by would-be customers, the dealer must diligently guard against theft.
Appreciating that most coins of collectable value are currently graded and sealed within slabs of reasonably standardized dimensions by a number of certified grading agencies, it has become more convenient to provide a holder which accommodates a number of such slabs.
Appreciating further that a dealer can never totally ignore the potential of theft, yet must make his/her offerings readily available to customers, Applicant has developed a display tray which facilitates access to the coins by purchasers, yet in a manner whereby the coins are individually secured and organized within a number of paged, display holders. The tray may additionally be secured to the display table.
Other than the foregoing conventional slab coin holders, Applicant is also aware of a number of coin holders which are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,448,850; 3,500,995; 3,751,128; 3,776,643; and 4,165,573. The holders of these patents, particularly support individual coins (not prepackaged slabs) within transparent holders or cases akin to the foregoing slabs.
Applicant is also aware of a variety of storage rack or container constructions which display a plurality of individually pre-packaged items. Such assemblies can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,520,922; 4,592,465; 4,781,292; and 4,850,477. Of these patents and although not providing for the display of coins, the 4,781,292 and 4,850,477 patents disclose "paged" tray constructions. The 4,781,292 patent discloses individual CD disk holders which interlock within individual, pivotally mounted clip ends that are permanently secured to a tray. Each end includes a pair of stub axles which mate with the tray support. The clip ends are not however secured in removable and/or locked engagement to the support. The 4,850,477 patent discloses a tray including a plurality of vertical stop members which are spaced apart to permit a tilt mounting of disk boxes stored therein.
Applicant is otherwise unaware of a holder which accepts the foregoing graded, coin slabs and supports the slabs in locked and removeable engagement to the tray in a fashion similar to the present invention.